Topic: Material ExcessQuick Nerdisms: Materials science has quite literally shaped our world, from the giant structures of ancient times to space exploration. Whether by centuries of trial and error, or a systematic search for the next “big thing”, the methods by which we make stuff have been at the heart of the human experience.
Key topics in this talk include 1) composites, from the past to the future, 2) the plastics revolution and the problem of waste, 3) design principles for a sustainable future

Nerd Cred: Brandon Kirk – hardware product manager, maker of new things.
Brandon grew up dreaming of being an astronaut, with a grandfather who brought him mementos from his work as a composites engineer for a NASA contractor. In school he enjoyed sculpture, and later in life rediscovered his passion for materials and making by exposure to manufacturing and prototyping of consumer electronics.

Speaker 2: Ms. Kaitlin Chan

Topic: The Benefits of Being Average LookingQuick Nerdisms: Kaitlin Chan, a certified average looking person, will present on the social construction of beauty, as well as how the “hetero-economy of looks” (a term coined by Tony Tulathimutte) works in tandem with capitalism and white supremacy to reify existing structures of power and domination. Using memes, comics and news items, Chan will outline how to survive as a average looking person in the 21st century of Instagram.

Nerd Cred: Kaitlin Chan is an artist and curator from Hong Kong. She works for a non-profit gallery, and is also a contributing cartoonist to Art Agency, Partners/ Sotheby’s In Other Words newsletter, as well as a contributing editor to the independent online magazine Still/Loud.

Speaker 3: Mr. Arindam Roy

Topic: Dinosaur Colouration: Knowing the UnknowableQuick Nerdisms: Dinosaurs captivate people of all ages. Movies, museums, and exhibits routinely display artistic renditions of what a dinosaur may have looked like when alive. But is it truly possible to figure out what colours dinosaurs were ? How much liberty can artists, scientists and filmmakers take with dinosaur illustrations, toys and models. With new cutting-edge research, it is possible to determine colouration of fossils, and it will change the way we look at dinosaurs forever.

Nerd Cred: Arindam Roy is a prestigious Hong Kong PhD fellow at the Vertebrate Palaeontology Laboratory, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong. He received his first integrated master’s degree in Biotechnology at St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta India (2014) and went on to earn a second in Palaeobiology from the University of Bristol, United Kingdom (2015). His current research supervised by Dr. Michael Pittman, involves reconstruction of colours in fossils with focus on paravian dinosaurs and early birds.